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Creative commons
UK News

No justification for delaying £2 cap on fixed-odds betting machines, Christian charity says

by Eno Adeogun

It's been more than five months since the government announced plans to reduce the maximum stake on machines in bookmakers' shops from £100 to just £2 by April 2019.

However, the Guardian has reported this change may be delayed until October 2019, which has angered campaigners - including MPs, who want gambling companies to implement the change by the original deadline.

 

Christian charity Christian Action Research and Education (CARE) have also campaigned for the maximum stake to be cut.

Its spokesperson James Mildred told Premier the implementation has already been too slow and that it would be "incredibly difficult to understand the justification for delaying a much welcomed and much anticipated and much needed cut in the maximum stake".

Sharing his concerns during Premier's News Hour, he added: "You can lose vast amounts of money in a very, very, very short space of time.

"Research that CARE has done has demonstrated that these fixed-odds betting terminals are predominantly clustered in economically deprived areas and it is fuelling problem gambling."

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) opted for a new maximum stake of £2 back in May 2018.

According to CARE, the estimated take-home for bookmakers of delaying the cut is thought to be £900m - based on the current rate of winnings.

Mildred said he fears betting firms are applying pressure on the government to delay the changes.

"They've pushed back and pushed back and pushed back and played for time because they're interested in making as much money as they can.

"In fact, if the cut is delayed until October 2019, that means that from the moment the cut was first announced, the bookmakers could potentially make as much as £2.7bn thanks to the high-stake on these machines.

"So I don't really have a great deal of sympathy (for bookmakers) when people are suffering - and they are. It's really simple, the Chancellor needs to back down, he needs to implement the cut in April 2019 - as was agreed, or he will face I suspect a very tricky budget debate. He needs to implement the cut as soon as possible because it really will help problem gamblers."

Listen to Premier's Eno Adeogun speaking with James Mildred from CARE:

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